Impact of Young Age at Diagnosis on Survival in Patients with Surgically Treated Renal Cell Carcinoma: a Multicenter Study

The prognostic significance of age in renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is a subject of debate. The aim of the present multi-institutional study was to evaluate the impact of age on clinicopathological features and survival in a large cohort of patients with RCC. A total of 5,178 patients who underwent surgery for RCC at eight institutions in Korea between 1999 and 2011 were categorized into three groups according to age at diagnosis as follows: young age (< 40 years, n = 541), middle-age (≥ 40 and < 60 years, n = 2,551), and old age (≥ 60 years, n = 2,096) groups. Clinicopathological variables and survival rates were compared between the three groups. Young patients had lower stage tumors with a low Fuhrman grade, a lower rate of lymphovascular invasion than patients in the other age groups. Regarding histologic type, the young age group had a lower percentage of clear cell histology and a greater incidence of Xp11.2 translocation RCC. Kaplan-Meier estimates showed that cancer-specific survival was significantly better in the young age group than in the other groups (log rank test, P = 0.008). However, age at diagnosis was not an independent predictor of survival in multivariate analysis. In conclusion, young age at diagnosis was associated with favorable pathologic features, although it was not an independent prognostic factor for survival in patients with surgically-treated RCC. Age itself should not be regarded as a crucial determinant for the treatment of RCC.

Journal of Korean medical science. 2016 Dec [Epub]

Ho Won Kang, Sung Pil Seo, Won Tae Kim, Seok Joong Yun, Sang Cheol Lee, Wun Jae Kim, Eu Chang Hwang, Seok Ho Kang, Sung Hoo Hong, Jinsoo Chung, Tae Gyun Kwon, Hyeon Hoe Kim, Cheol Kwak, Seok Soo Byun, Yong June Kim, KOrean Renal Cell Carcinoma (KORCC) Group

Department of Urology, Chungbuk National University College of Medicine, Cheongju, Korea., Department of Urology, Chonnam National University Hwasun Hospital, Hwasun, Korea., Department of Urology, Korea University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea., Department of Urology, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Korea., Department of Urology, National Cancer Center, Goyang, Korea., Department of Urology, Kyungpook National University College of Medicine, Daegu, Korea., Department of Urology, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea., Department of Urology, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Seongnam, Korea., Department of Urology, Chungbuk National University College of Medicine, Cheongju, Korea. .